Child of Destiny

Chapter 1526: The Emerald of the Seven Seas (Part 1)

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When Shin logged back in the game, he was immediately greeted by a crowd of sea creatures gathered in front of a platform. He was among those standing on top of the platform with their backs facing the tall altar before a statue of a person clothed with water.

From what he had heard, the person of the statue was one of the Gods of the Sea, or more specifically, the God of Primordial Waters.

Shin did not have to guess to know who this god was. It must be Hydros, especially when he heard about his relationship with the Primordial Waters.

This also confirmed that this ongoing trail was meant for those seeking the inheritance of this God of Primordial Water, especially so when the name of the trail itself came from his name.

After adjusting himself, Shin went to observe the other sea creatures on top of the altar alongside him.

Most of them were those participants that Shin found noticeable since the start of the tournament, and those with the strongest powers.

What was surprising, or rather unsurprising, was more than half of these people were from the World Serpent race. The rest, on the other hand, were also from the Ancient Races of the sea, which was to be expected.

All these participants owned a complete set of the Sea Gems, which meant that they were all the leading conditions for this tournament.

Shin did not know why they were standing in front of everyone, but he felt that they were being displayed like fresh fishes on a wet market from the real world.

Not long after, the person, who appeared to be the host of this tournament, emerged from outside of the barrier once again and floated above everyone.

”This should be the final round of elimination. Those who will be surviving this round are going to be sent to the main battlefield and fight for the right to become the champion of the seas,” his voice was like thunder shaking the entire world.

His voice shook everyone to the core, seemingly making their blood boil to an unimaginable degree.

The more Shin learned about this person, the stranger he felt.

When he met this person, he felt like there was a boundless ocean gap between their strength. But when Shin learned and mastered more about the abilities of the World Serpent Race and became more powerful as time went by, the more he felt that the gap between them was only growing larger.

”For those who are standing at the sea platform, they are to protect their Sea Gems for as long as they can while those standing at the bottom will try to snatch those gems from them,” that person said as he leisurely lay on the back of the giant whale swimming in the air. ”Those who will survive in the end will then proceed to the true trails of the sea.”

”There are only thirty-two available slots for the festival, so I hope that you will try your best and prove to the Kings of the Seas that you are worthy of their attention.”

”Those who will fail but survive in the end are going to be thrown at the end of the abysmal sea and fight against the Destruction Devils to regain their rights to return.”

”I wish you all the luck and await your arrival at the promised sea,” he added before the humongous whale opened its mouth and summoned a huge portal that sucked everyone underneath it.

Swoosh!

Shin and the others were unable to fight against the strong suction force that was pulling them toward the portal.

They could only watch themselves get swept by it and enter the portal without fighting back.

***

When Shin opened his eyes once again, he found himself in the middle of the ocean depths, where not even a single sign of life could be felt aside from himself.

”Where am I sent this time” he frowned deeply as he scanned the surroundings with his Spiritual Sense while enhancing it with the Boundless Ocean Technique.

”I thought that we were going to be sent to a much smaller place where those participants with incomplete sets of Sea Gems could besiege us in every direction. But I guess we are sent to another independent realm with a humongous size.”

He then paused for a moment and looked at his inventory. He saw that the seven Sea Gems that he had acquired from the second round had undergone some changes. They were originally as big as his thumb when he first acquired them, but they were now grown to fit his entire palm.

He also noticed that all the other gems that he had gotten from the participants that he had defeated had unknowingly disappeared from his inventory.

If his guesses were right, then there was a high chance that all those gems were absorbed by the seven Sea Gems that now emitting a different light that corresponded to their respective color.

They also seemed to be pulsing with a certain rhythm, but different from one another.

Shin was not sure of it, but he felt that each pulse of the gems represented a certain element, which was quite confusing since they were all supposed to have a single element. They were called Sea Gems, after all.

But from the look of it, his original guess was wrong. Or he might also be unaware of the true purpose of these gems.

It could also be different types of water energies that carry a different property in them, making them resemble the other elements.

Regardless, Shin felt that each of these gemstones was giving him a different resonance. They seemed to be urging him to pick one of them, which became the main composition once they merged.

Shin stared at them for quite a while before refusing to choose any of them. He felt that he would benefit from them more once they had elevated each of them to the same level.

He could feel that each gem was on a different level. It felt like the powers that they could provide him varied depending on the concentration of energies that they had collected.

The one with the brightest color was the red ruby, which was emitting an intense heat. Its energies were much higher than the rest.

Shin felt that it had something to do with the number of Sea Gems that they had absorbed. He remembered that the number of rubies that he had collected during the previous rounds far exceeded the rest, which indirectly told Shin that his suspicion might be right.

He was curious about what would happen if he had elevated the concentration of energies within each gem to the highest level by collecting the gems from the other participants.

”This trial is getting more and more interesting,” he mumbled as he turned around, looking for a direction where he would be heading.

But before he could even make his choice, the seven Sea Gems suddenly shot out from his body and formed a circle around him before releasing an intense light.

He could only smile bitterly as he could somewhat tell that these gemstones seemed to be trying to lure those participants toward his direction.

He now knew why those with a complete set of gemstones were scattered in different places of this realm once again. ”It will be troublesome if the other top candidates fight right away and collect all the Sea Gems before the main event can even start.”

”Those cunning people must be trying to avoid the most powerful candidates to fight one another so that they can enjoy a good show later,” he mumbled before smiling bitterly. ”Festival of the Sea? More like a fight club where the participants are nothing but entertainment for those so-called Kings of the Seas.”

”So much for a glorious title such as the Champion of the Seas,” he shook his head.

As Shin was waiting for the arrival of his ʼguestsʼ, the Sea Gems suddenly stopped emitting their lights and returned to his ʼbodyʼ.

It was at that moment when the first batch of participants arrived.

”These guys are supposedly hunting me to snatch the Sea Gems from my hands. Their strength shouldnʼt be that weak either since they have survived the previous rounds as well.”

”This is going to be a little trouble, but it will make this hunt quite entertaining as well,” he mumbled to himself while scanning his surroundings and taking note of the strongest opponents among these sea creatures.

When he was done marking all the possible threats, some of the most impulsive ones among the batch quickly launched a simultaneous attack at him before he could even prepare himself.

Shin remained calm despite all the attacks targeting him from every direction. He was already used to this routine after all. Ever since the start of this trial, he had been besieged from all directions and had become everyoneʼs target.

He was not sure whether it was on purpose due to the nature of the trail imposed by the system, or all the leading participants were marked with the ʼtarget tagʼ above their heads. But he felt that there must be some other purpose to it.

An instant later, his entire body seemed to shake due to the vibration of his muscles. This was the sign that he had activated the body-enhancing technique of the World Serpent Race.

Swoosh!

A moment later, his figure suddenly disappeared before reappearing in the same place once again.

Time seemed to have stopped as all the sea creatures attempting to charge at him suddenly halted their advance and stayed in place.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Not long after, a series of flashes appeared in every direction, cutting everyone into diced meat.

”Though, we still have no idea which is the prey and the predator this time,” mumbled Shin as he stayed still in the middle of all the chaos around him.

He then turned his in every direction, sweeping through the survivors of his previous attack and the ones who were waiting for their opportunity to ack, and said. ”Come! Letʼs see how much improvement you will provide me this time.”

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